


The Taste of Forever

by ByTheBi



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Confessions, Heart-to-Heart, Light Angst, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Paopu Fruit (Kingdom Hearts), Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:40:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22852642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ByTheBi/pseuds/ByTheBi
Summary: When Isa learns of the paopu fruit, it gets him thinking about ice cream and promises and what it means to share a destiny with someone.
Relationships: Axel/Saïx (Kingdom Hearts), Isa & Lea (Kingdom Hearts), Isa/Lea (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 45





	The Taste of Forever

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally a fic I posted on Twitter, but I've made a few minor changes to it in order to share it with you all here as well. I hope you enjoy it.

On Destiny Islands, under a great tree, Isa first hears of the legend of the paopu fruit. Kairi plucks one from the tree as she explains, passing the star-shaped fruit over to him with an encouraging smile. Long after she walks away, Isa sits there and thinks of childhood oaths, of bonds sealed with sticky blue pinky promises. As sky turns orange, he thinks on the sour taste that still lingers in his mouth when he thinks too long about ice cream. He thinks of a town where the sun never sets, of too many popsicle sticks passed between too many greedy hands.

He's grateful when night falls. The night sky is comforting, the deep blue-black easy on his poor body, eyes and heart aching from staring at the sun too long. 

Isa turns the fruit over in his hands. It’s perfectly ripe, of course, plump with unspoken hopes and dreams, but the yellow seems dull now without sunshine to brighten it. The moon is full, shimmering in both sea and sky, but it isn't enough.

(Of course it isn't; when is he ever?)

He squeezes and watches paopu juice pool around his fingertips. Isa doesn't look up at the sound of shifting sand, nor at the quiet "hey" Lea gives him as he takes a seat beside him. He keeps his head bowed, wondering if paopu fruit is tangy or if it has the same salty-sweet taste as the broken promises he's more familiar with. 

"Hey," Lea repeats, nudging him with his shoulder. 

"What is it?" he says, finally raising his eyes. Lea gives him a thoughtful look before turning to stare out at the ocean. 

"Nothin'," he says lightly. "Just felt like sitting here is all."

"Lea," he begins, an argument already in his tone, but he's interrupted. 

"What'cha got there?" 

"It's called a paopu fruit," Isa answers simply. He can tell that Lea is waiting for more, which tells him that he already _knows_ the legend, so Isa stays quiet, watching the sea.

Unsurprisingly, Lea cracks before barely a minute has passed. "What's so special about it?" 

"Why does there have to be anything special about it? It’s just a fruit."

Lea's hands come up defensively, caught. "Alright, fine, be that way." A pause, then, "Sora already told me about it anyway." 

Isa sighs. "It's just a legend. It doesn't matter."

It's just a fruit, really. Just a fake bond built off a shared moment. 

Lea frowns. "Then why are you holding onto it? Isn't there anyone you want to share it with?"

 _Of course there is,_ Isa thinks bitterly. Lea of all people should know that. But then again, Lea had never held these sorts of things in the same regard Isa did. 

Lea wanted to share himself with the world. He wanted his fate to cross as many paths as possible. Lea was the one who picked up strays. Who bought them ice cream and made promises regardless of whether they could be kept. 

Isa was the one foolish (selfish) enough to think that sharing some ice cream under the stars was a confession or that grubby hands could hold on forever. 

"No."

Lea reaches over, prying it from his sticky fingers. "Then give it here. Because I do."

Isa can't help the flash of hurt across his face. His heart is still too fragile, emotions still too strong for him to hide as well as he used to. "Of course you do," he snaps.

Lea blinks. "Whoa, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." Isa's lips twist into a scowl. He sorely regrets having said anything at all; he can feel more words, more _feelings_ bubbling up, begging to be released. 

His heart was always too weak when it came to Lea. 

"No, seriously,” Lea insists, turning more fully to give Isa his attention. It hurts too much for Isa to do the same. 

He bites the inside of his cheek and takes a deep breath. "I only meant you're not at a loss for people you care for. For people you'd want to... share a fate with."

The look Lea gives him is a strange one- brows pinched, lips slightly parted. 

"I mean," Lea shrugs, the gesture not nearly as casual as he might want it to be, "I guess you're not wrong? But something like this... it goes beyond all that, you know?"

He thinks he does know. "What do you mean?"

Lea scratches the back of his head, suddenly bashful. "Ah, come on, don't make me say it, Isa."

_"Lea."_

He blows out a puff of air. "This is more than just sharing ice cream with friends. This is about having someone you want to spend the rest of your life with, come hell or high water."

Isa's throat is dry. 

"This is about destiny, Isa. It's about forever."

"I thought... that's what ice cream was," Isa admits in a quiet voice. It's surprisingly childlike, nearly lost to the crash of the waves. He pretends that maybe it was and lets the sea carry away his next words too. 

"Everytime you bought me ice cream, you'd say you wanted me by your side forever. And I thought..." 

(He thought he meant it. He thought he could. He thought they would.)

"But then you would do that for all your new friends, and I didn't know what to think."

"That's not-!"

"True? But it is." Isa's smile is a tiny, heartbroken thing. "I don't think you intended for things to end up this way or for me to feel this way. But we have no control over fate."

Tears well up in Lea's eyes, in sync with the tightness in Isa's throat. 

"I do want you my side. I always did. And yeah, I’ll always want all my other friends in my life too, but you've always been more than that to me, Isa. I thought you knew that and I thought that was why you were waiting here. I thought you wanted to share this with me."

 _'I do,'_ is what Isa wants to say, but the words are stuck on his tongue, as sticky as the drying fruit juice on his fingers. 

Lea takes his silence as a sign to continue, wiping at his eyes with his sleeve. 

"Everytime I told you forever, I meant it." 

Before he knows what he's doing, Isa's reaching out to snatch the paopu fruit from him and taking a huge bite of it. Tangy sweetness bursts on his tongue, dribbles down his chin. He thrusts it back towards Lea with an expectant look in his eyes. 

Lea accepts it with surprising gentleness, flashing a smile before he puts it to his lips and bites down. 

Nothing happens of course. There's no magic. But the breeze is pleasant, the night lovely and mild; some of the tension residing in Isa's chest unravels. He turns his face to the moonlight again. 

"Forever, huh?" His fingers curl into the sand. A warm hand covers his own. 

"Forever," Lea promises, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze. "We've made it this far already. Everything else will be easy."

Isa chuckles. He thinks it will be. With Lea’s hand in his, he feels like he can face the world. 

A second hand comes to cup his cheek, tilting his head until his mouth meets Lea's own, the lingering taste of paopu juice shared on their lips.

That night they learn what forever tastes like, and it’s sweeter than either of them ever could have imagined.


End file.
